We made a conscious decision to listen more closely to everyday Floridians; people who aren't typically in the news, but who care deeply about the future of our state.

Our goal was to chronicle the issues that matter most to them, in their voices, then share what we heard with you.

Since then, visuals journalist Leah Voss and I (with assistance from our colleagues) have crisscrossed the state to interview 22 individuals for Florida Voices, as this project is known. Without fail, we encountered thoughtful Floridians whose insights can make our state a better place.

Today, with the midterm election days away, we are reflecting on the spectrum of their views.

We hope it reminds the candidates who prevail Tuesday that the concerns of Florida residents must be their top priority — not special interests, pet projects or personal gain.

The Floridians we interviewed were women and men; Republicans and Democrats; straight and gay; young and old; farmers and environmentalists. They included news junkies and casual observers; veterans and entrepreneurs; office workers and outdoors enthusiasts. Some were born in this country, some weren't.

Despite their differences, common themes emerged from these Floridians:

They feel alienated by the political extremes.

They are concerned about Florida's environmental future.

They want leaders who will bring financial stability to their families and businesses.

They are inspired by the youth of Florida.

Today, we are sharing excerpts from these interviews, each of which published in all six newspapers and websites encompassing the USA TODAY Network-Florida: FLORIDA TODAY in Melbourne; The News-Press in Fort Myers; Naples Daily News; Pensacola News Journal; Tallahassee Democrat and TCPalm on the Treasure Coast.

In the true spirit of this project, we hope you will listen to all these Floridians have to say by reading the full-length interviews and watching their videos linked below.

The art of listening gets short-changed in this era when so much competes for our attention; when the most brash views get the most attention.

When the din of campaign season quiets after Tuesday's election, we hope the voices of everyday Floridians will be more clearly heard.

Eve Samples is opinion/audience engagement editor for TCPalm, which is part of the USA TODAY Network-Florida.

*Ages and other biographical details reflect the time of each interview, which spanned from April through October.

Apollo Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Jonathan Hilliard, seen May 4, 2018 in his classroom in Titusville, has concerns about Florida's environment, teacher pay and school safety, but he is still hopeful for the future. "I think what makes me feel hopeful about Florida is we can still write our story. Nothing's set in stone. We can make it as optimistic as we want," he said. "Our diversity is amazing, not just geographically, culturally, religiously. We're just a wonderful melting pot of opportunity and people, and I love it."

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Jonathan Hilliard

“No teacher’s striking to cripple a system or make some crazy six-figure salary. We pretty much want what would be an average wage, not even a great wage. Just give us something average for our education and experience."

"The next leader of Florida would in our eyes be somebody that truly cares about Florida and not just Florida for conservation, but Florida for the people," said Justin Stuller, 36, of Estero, on May 15, 2018 at Estero River Outfitters in Estero. Stuller, along with his younger brothers, will soon be a second-generation owner of the outdoors business that sells and rents kayaks, canoes, paddle boards, fishing supplies and more. "Keep the small businesses alive, keep the economy working well and keep the conservation working here to keep all those people coming," Stuller said, listing his priorities in a gubernatorial candidate.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Justin Stuller

"Our ecosystem is everything, especially here in Florida. That’s what people come here for. ... Keep the small businesses alive, keep the economy working well and keep the conservation working here to keep all those people coming."

"I really think the Space Coast is the next Silicon Valley," said entrepreneur and IT consultant Emily Mollen, 34, who was born in Melbourne and recently moved back from San Jose, California to live in Indian Harbour Beach. Mollen, pictured May 9, 2018 in her home, left Silicon Valley for the more affordable Brevard County and now owns Space Coast IT Consulting.

Janeth Castrejon, of Fort Myers, seen May 16, 2018 at her offices at CareerSource Southwest Florida in Fort Myers, is concerned about health care access for veterans, affordable housing and salary gaps between men and women. Despite being the social media coordinator for CareerSource and chair for the Board of Directors for the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, she has noticed setbacks just for being who she is. "Ever since I came into the civilian world after the military, it has been a struggle to constantly prove myself, as a woman in any profession — as a Latina in any profession," Castrejon said.

"My whole life has changed because I'm not fishing. I'm just not doing it," said Marcia Foosaner, 70, who, after spending nearly 30 years as a fishing guide on the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, is moving from Palm City to Lake Placid because of the polluted water in Martin County. In Lake Placid, Foosaner said she can fish in dozens of lakes that appear "crystal clear" and since the city is centrally located, she'll also have access to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Marcia Foosaner

Age: 70

Occupation: Retired fishing guide

Lives in: Lake Placid

Election issues: Clean water, over-development, sea-level rise

"Somebody’s got to stand up to development, pollution. ... The more people realize that this state is really a swamp, and stop trying to make it something else, the better off Florida is going to be."

Jim Russell, a retired Florida State University Police Department deputy chief and full-time artist, says people who create art have healthier cognitive abilities and lower rates of depression and stress. One of Russell's goals is to travel to different first-responder agencies and hospitals to show staff how effective art can be. "Here's something you can do that can cost nothing -- you need a piece of paper and a pencil -- that can help you develop your mental health, develop your brain health to give you an outlet that's healthy as opposed to opioids or alcohol or no treatment whatsoever. This is a way to help you," Russell said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Jim Russell

Age: 48

Occupation: Retired deputy chief with Florida State University Police, now working as an artist

A 2017 graduate of the University of Central Florida College of Business and recipient of TheDream.US scholarship program, Kevin Ortiz, 27, of Orlando, is one of almost 700,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients across the United States. Thanks to DACA, Ortiz became a legal resident of the U.S. in 2013 after moving to Florida from Mexico with his family ten years prior. Although he earned 33 college credits as a dual enrollment high school student, he was only able to continue pursuing a college degree after he became a DACA recipient, which allowed him to get an identification card and social security number. "I was able to get a driver's license and I was able to go to Valencia College and continue with my degree. I gladly used my savings to get my associate's degree."

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Kevin Ortiz

Age: 27

Occupation: University of Central Florida business-school graduate working in finance

Will Dunaway, an environmental and land use attorney, poses for a portrait June 20, 2018 at Clark Partington law firm in Pensacola. “You can’t really be an effective environmental lawyer if you don’t have a heart for what’s natural," Dunaway said. "But environmentalism doesn’t always mean don’t build anything. It just means do it smarter. The built, man-made environment can be positive and enhancing if we do it intelligently and creatively.”

(Photo: Gregg Pachkowski/Pensacola News-Journal)

Will Dunaway

Age: 54

Occupation: Environmental and land use attorney

Lives in: Pensacola

Election issues: Development, preservation and neighborhood and community development

"Environmentalism doesn’t always mean don’t build anything. It just means do it smarter. The built, man-made environment can be positive and enhancing if we do it intelligently and creatively."

Marshelle Moreland, 56, of Tallahassee, seen May 31, 2018 at Cascades Park in the state capital, has several issues on her mind this election year, including the environment, merit-based funding, equality and diversity, health care and Amendment 4, which would restore voting rights to roughly 1.4 million felons. Moreland spent 33 years working for the U.S. Postal Service before moving to Tallahassee, where the canopy of trees and exposure to nature drew her in to becoming more "politically astute" concerning the environment. "I'm from South Florida where there's a lot of development. I understand the need for development, but I also know that it should be balanced, and this area is beautiful. I hope we don't lose that," she said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Marshelle Moreland

“I’m a retiree, I don’t have to work. So I actually have the time to get in the trenches and find out what’s going on that impacts my community, what’s going on that impacts my race, what’s going on that impacts my gender, what’s going on that impacts Christians."

Jason Evans, 42, of DeLand, measures a Satellite Beach stormwater drain pipe on June 28, 2018 on the Indian River Lagoon. Evans is an assistant professor of environmental studies and sciences at Stetson University and is currently involved in a Sea Grant program with the city of Satellite Beach, where he is doing an inventory of stormwater drains with a team of assistants. The drains were likely installed in the 1960s, but since then, the sea level has risen 5-6 inches. Evans' research will help city planners determine which pipes need replaced as the sea level continues to rise, in order to prevent flooding. So far, flooding has not be an issue, "but it will happen," Evans said. "It's going to happen at some point in the future."

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Jason Evans

Age: 43

Occupation: Associate professor of environmental science and studies, Stetson University

Kai-Kai Farm owners Carl Frost (left) and Diane Cordeau, pictured July 23, 2018 in a field on their 40-acre property in Indiantown where they grow broccolini, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants, okra, beans, carrots, kale and a variety of other vegetables. "We discovered farming together," Frost said of his wife and business parter, noting that their first agricultural interest was viticulture. Frost is the property manager and enjoys growing the hospitality offerings at the farm and Cordeau is the grower, cultivating the 80 different crops.

Dan Green is interviewed Aug. 3, 2018, at Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary in Vero Beach. “I found I really liked the work," said Green, who has served several tours in the Middle East with the Navy reserves. "And because the war has gone on for so long, I have some corporate memory for things."

(Photo: XAVIER MASCAREÑAS/TCPALM)

Dan Green

Age: 42

Occupation: Naval reserve officer and defense fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

"A big issue for me is just getting the federal government to operate well in terms of passing a budget on time, trying to address the budget deficit, trying to address the debt we have as a country. It’s mind-blowing how large it has grown in the last few decades."

Immigration attorney Ricardo Skerrett, 57, seen Aug. 7, 2018, along the Miami River in downtown Miami, is a native of Puerto Rico who now lives in Cape Coral and represents individuals, corporations, public and religious institutions and more. "I've always said immigration, whether illegal or legal, follows the reality of the market. Where there's jobs, people will go. If there's no jobs, people will not go there. Right now the unemployment rate is only (3.9 percent) here, so that means that immigration is going to go down, illegal immigration," Skerrett said.

Following Hurricane Irma in Sept. 2017, the interior of Courtney Crowley's home was covered in 11 inches of water, causing $90,000 in damage, excluding personal belongings. When Crowley and her husband were able to make their way back to their property several days after Irma's landfall, they had to jimmy a window open to enter the house, then kick the front door open. "You could see water still on the floor. The couches were all soaked. All of my mattresses were ruined, most of my clothes, almost all of my furniture, I mean everything. We threw out everything," Crowley said. The Crowleys moved back into their home in May and are slowly collecting new possessions.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Courtney Crowley

Age: 33

Occupation: Coordinator of finance and administration at Community Cooperative

"Population has grown so exponentially. And we’ve made some really, what’s turning out to be bad decisions, so that we could cultivate Florida as a tourism spot ... We divert water, we drain the Everglades, and then we get red tide and algae blooms."

Riverfront Packing Company president and CEO Dan Richey, 60, of Vero Beach, seen Aug. 24, 2018, has watched the iconic citrus industry of Florida decline in the past two decades. "I used to be able to throw a ball to five packinghouses from where I sit today," Richey said. "Today there's five packinghouses in Indian River County. We used to have 16. That all has occurred due to the effect of greening disease." Several factors have contributed to the decline in citrus production in Florida; devastating hurricanes in 2004 and 2005, urban encroachment, citrus greening disease and shorter growing seasons. Despite the obstacles, Richey is not willing to give up. "We're still here, and we're still optimistic, and we're not going anywhere," Richey said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Dan Richey

"There are 1,000 people a day moving to Florida. We have to figure out how we’re going to manage that: How we’re going to move this population around; how we’re going to have the water for this population; how we’re going to find the balance between agriculture’s needs and human needs."

Davina Hartsfield, 29, of Naples, seen Aug. 17, 2018 with her children, Reagan (left), 3, and Rocco, 1, is a part-time stay-at-home mom and a part-time program coordinator for Girls on the Run of Southwest Florida. Hartsfield, who has a degree in child development and psychology and has taught first and third grades in Southwest Florida, uses her role with Girls on the Run to help female youth build self-confidence, find a voice and combat negative messages. "I so firmly believe that a child cannot be academically successful unless the other parts of their development are being supported," she said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Davina Hartsfield

Age: 29

Occupation: Part-time program coordinator for Girls on the Run of Southwest Florida and part-time stay-at-home mom

"People are becoming increasingly connected, and while that obviously has its challenges, if we can harness it correctly and have good people in leadership — balanced people in leadership — to help foster that, the successes will be exponentially better for our community."

"We need to look at ourselves to make a decision based on issues, not party lines," said Raed Alshaibi, 50, of Indialantic, a hotelier who manages a beachfront resort in Melbourne. Alshaibi is highly concerned about the deteriorating environment in the privatization of beaches. "Most of our economy is tourism. And if we don't take care of our shores and the environment, we're just going to drive people away, and it's going to affect us big time," he said. "We should really focus on our strength... and this is our strength, this beautiful water."

Donnie McMahon, 64, of Pensacola, founded Pensacola Bay Oyster Co. in 2013 after noticing a need for more water-filtering bivalve mollusks when hurricanes and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico damaged natural oyster beds. Following the environmental tragedies, McMahon recognized possibilities for revitalization in the Florida Panhandle. "There's been a lot of opportunity for us. Up here in Northwest Florida, we experienced the the BP (Deepwater) Horizon catastrophe in combination with the worst economic downturn in our history. We've emerged from that being one of the lowest areas of unemployment in the state, and a lot of good business growth," McMahon said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Donnie McMahon

Age: 64

Occupation: President of Pensacola Bay Oyster Co.; president of McMahon & Hadder Insurance

Lisa Davis (left) and her wife, Corinne Davis, of Palm City, have been married since 2010, when they traveled to Massachusetts to legally marry. The marriage was unrecognized by the state of Florida until 2015, when same-sex marriage became federally legal thanks to a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. Since they met online in 2007, many rights have changed for LGBTQ couples in the United States, including the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the ability for same-sex couples to legally adopt their children, two things they have experience dealing with. The Davises are concerned about rights changing for same-sex couples with a new U.S. Supreme Court appointee.

"I started this business in 1989, but it wasn't like this," said Waterboyz owner Sean Fell, 51, of Gulf Breeze, about the massive indoor shop, restaurant and skate park he owns in Pensacola. Initially, Fell began making surfboards in a laundry closet and the business expanded over time. "It just grew and grew, it was totally non-intentional. I just didn't quit. I just didn't give up," he said.

Pamela Turner — a disabled Navy veteran, cancer survivor, former corrections officer and single mother of four — poses for a family portrait with (from left) her 6-year-old biological daughter Matteo Leger, and foster children Marc Turner Jr., 1, Jahzara Turner, 6, and Marjani Turner, 5, at home Oct. 9, 2018, in Fort Pierce. Turner said something that worries her about the future of Florida is healthcare. "I have a daughter, she has a pre-existing condition but it's covered under Florida Medicaid, but sometimes it's difficult to get certain medications because the medications cost too much money...you have to learn how to do research to find out what methods you have available to use."

(Photo: XAVIER MASCAREÑAS/TCPALM)

Pamela Turner

"I think it is necessary for Joe Plumber or Joetta Plumber to be able to live off of what she makes. You have people who work at McDonald’s and they’re making $9.25 an hour. How are you supposed to pay rent with $9.25 an hour?"

Laura Geselbracht, 59, of Fort Lauderdale, is a senior marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy who is concerned about climate change, sea level rise and coastal resiliency this election year. Geselbracht hopes to see individuals, all levels of governments, corporations and small businesses making an effort to battle climate change. "It's amazing what we can accomplish when we put our mind to it. But if we're just avoiding the problem, that's not helping anybody over the long term," she said.

(Photo: LEAH VOSS/TCPALM)

Laura Geselbracht

Age: 59

Occupation: Senior marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy

Lives in: Fort Lauderdale

Election issues: Climate change, sea level rise, coastal resiliency

“We have to be leaders, since we’re some of the most vulnerable people here in our country to climate change and sea level rise impacts."